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Category: space travel – Page 62

A long-awaited space mission in the coming year could herald the start of a new era where so many science fiction dreams finally begin to cement themselves as science fact. But first we must pass a critical test of our own making that pits our technological expansion into orbit against the sun itself.

It’s not that difficult to predict what science stories we’ll be talking about over the next year: artificial intelligence, climate change and advances in biotechnology will remain front of mind. But there’s a pair of happenings just beyond our planet that I’ll be watching closely, because they amount to tests of a sort that could determine the trajectory of our species.

The first story you’ve probably already heard about. NASA aims to launch its Artemis II mission by the end of the year, carrying humans on a journey around the moon and back. This marks the first time anyone has traveled farther than low-earth orbit in more than 50 years.

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ESA’s Euclid mission is on a quest to unveil the nature of two elusive ‘dark’ entities. As the renowned theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking remarked in 2013, “The missing link in cosmology is the nature of dark matter and dark energy”

During the last 70 years, scientists have made enormous progress in understanding the very initial phases of the Universe and its evolution to the present day. Thanks to advances in observations and theoretical modelling, a clear picture has emerged of how stars form, and how galaxies grow and interact with each other, coming together to form groups and clusters.

Yet, fundamental mysteries remain. 95% of the Universe appears to be made up of unknown ‘dark’ matter and energy. Dark matter and energy affect the motion and distribution of visible sources but do not emit, reflect or absorb any light. And scientists do not know what these dark entities actually are.

To address this question, Euclid will create a great map of the large-scale structure of the Universe across space and time by observing with unprecedented accuracy billions of galaxies out to 10 billion light-years. This is not easy, and making sure that Euclid is up to the task has required the expertise and dedication of many people over several years of work.

Continue reading “Euclid: Gate to the dark” | >

NASA has pushed forward a revolutionary new rocket technology at its Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama. Engineers at the facility fired the 3D-printed Rotating Detonation Rocket Engine (RDRE) for a record 251 seconds with 5,800 lb (2,631 kg) of thrust.

For over six decades, NASA has relied on chemical rockets to launch its vehicles into space. It works, but chemical rockets suffer from the fact that they’ve been operating in the neighborhood of their theoretical limit since 1942. This isn’t helped by the fact that most liquid rockets are essentially unchanged in their basic design since the days of the German V2s.

To squeeze a bit more performance out of rocket engines, NASA is looking at a fundamentally different design with the RDRE.

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The launch was delayed twice this month due to weather and technical issues.

SpaceX did not show any footage of the X-37B separating from the rocket’s second stage, as the mission was shrouded in secrecy. The X-37B, which looks like a miniature version of the space shuttle, is an autonomous reusable vehicle that can stay in orbit for years, performing various experiments and maneuvers. It is operated by the Air Force in partnership with the Space Force and built by Boeing. There are two X-37B spacecraft in the fleet, and they have flown six missions since 2010.

Standing by for launch of USSF-52 and the X-37B mission this evening using a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket at Kennedy Space Center! #SpaceSystemsCommand #USSF #PartnersInSpace pic.twitter.com/eraa6dwqix — Space Systems Command (@USSF_SSC) December 28, 2023

The X-37B had previously been launched on United Launch Alliance’s Atlas 5 rocket five times and on SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket once. SpaceX won a $130 million contract in June 2018 to launch the OTV-7 mission on the Falcon Heavy, which can deliver heavier and larger payloads to higher orbits than the other rockets.

Continue reading “SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy sends the secret X-37B to orbit for seventh flight” | >

The robot is being developed to offer an helping hand to astronauts, designed to operate in hostile and hazardous conditions in space.

NASA’s first bipedal humanoid robot, Valkyrie, is undergoing a few of its final testing phases at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas.

A humanoid, much like Iron Man but constructed from metal and electronics, mimics human walking and appearance. Designed for a diverse array of functions, NASA is exploring if such machines can further space exploration, starting with the Artemis mission, according to Reuters.

Valkyrie, named after a prominent female figure in Norse mythology, commands attention with her formidable presence. Standing at 6 feet 2 inches (188 centimeters) and weighing 300 pounds (136 kilograms), NASA is an electric humanoid robot capable of operating in degraded or damaged human-engineered environments.

Continue reading “Meet Valkyrie, NASA’s humanoid robot enters advanced stages of testing” | >

Did you know that Einstein’s most important equation isn’t E=mc^2? Find out all about his equation that expresses how spacetime curves, with Sean Carroll.

Buy Sean’s book here: https://geni.us/AIAOUHn.
YouTube channel members can watch the Q&A for this lecture here: • Q&A: The secrets of Einstein’s unknow…

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This lecture was recorded at the Ri on Monday 14 August 2023.

Continue reading “The secrets of Einstein’s unknown equation — with Sean Carroll” | >

Japan’s space agency announced Thursday it will launch its next-generation H3 rocket in February after two failed attempts early this year.

The rocket, billed as a flexible and cost-effective new flagship, is scheduled to lift off between 9:22 am and 1:06 pm (0022 and 406 GMT) on February 15 from the southern island of Tanegashima, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) said in a press release.

The third launch attempt comes after the spacecraft was forced to self-destruct in March when the command center concluded its mission could not succeed.

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One of the hardest things for many people to conceptualize when talking about how fast something is going is that they must ask, “Compared to what?” All motion only makes sense from a frame of reference, and many spacecraft traveling in the depths of the void lack any regular reference from which to understand how fast they’re going.

There have been several different techniques to try to solve this problem, but one of the ones that have been in development the longest is StarNAV—a way to navigate in space using only the stars.

Several projects named “StarNAV” seem to be ongoing at various stages of development, including a NASA Institute for Advanced Concepts grant for some researchers on the East Coast of the US and a small start-up company based on technology out of UC Irvine. In this case, we’ll look at the work done by the researchers, particularly a paper they released last year detailing some progress toward a prototype.

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